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PRESENT SIGNAGE FOR AED LOCATIONS IS NOT STANDARDISED, AND CAN BE CONFUSED WITH FIRST AID

When someone has a sudden cardiac arrest, time is of the essence - defibrillation within the first 3 minutes is vital to increasing the chances of survival from around a mere 5% to more than 10 times that.  Therefore, knowing the precise location of an AED will save time.  Mistaking a first aid sign for an AED location sign could mean the difference between life and death for the patient.
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Presently, there is no standard sign or symbol that lets somebody know the location of an AED.  Currently, a common symbol used is the green background, white writing, and a white heart with a lightning bolt going through it.  The similarity between this symbol and the commonly used First Aid symbol may lead to confusion in a high-stress moment.  

An AED is NOT a piece of first aid equipment, and as such, should not be aligned with the symbol for first aid.  An AED is a piece of lifesaving, emergency resuscitation equipment.  It needs its own, uniquely identifiable nationally-recognised symbol so that in the event of a cardiac arrest, a panicked bystander does not go and approach someone with a first aid symbol displayed on the doorway of their business instead of going to the business with a Heart of the Nation symbol.  

Our goal is to help save lives - but we cannot do it alone - we need the community to buy into this initiative, and help support the awareness of this symbol of recognition for those businesses, workplaces and community groups that have AED's on-site to help save lives.  Remember - this is not a matter of first aid - it's life and death, and needs to be prioritised as such!

Heart of the Nation has conducted 3 pieces of research alongside international authors, and one paper has already been published.  The paper showed the results of a survey of approximately 2,500 people that revealed the majority of people favoured a yellow and red sign versus a green and white sign.  The paper can be viewed here, and a video showing a presentation given by our CEO, Greg Page at a recent Summit in San Diego on the issue of signage and our research, can be viewed here.

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